Maryland ONE members Olu, Sara Friar, and I had a great discussion with our state’s senior senator’s staff in Washington, D.C. yesterday. We touched on a variety of issues affecting the world’s poorest people including child and maternal health, clean water and sanitation, foreign assistance reform, and climate change. Legislative Assistant Frank Cristinzio said that Senator Mikulski “appreciates the interconnectedness of all of these issues,” and has supported life-saving legislation, such as PEPFAR, to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease in the developing world.

He also said that Senator Mikulski is supportive of efforts to restructure US foreign assistance and added that it is in our national security interest to elevate development. Mr. Cristinzio was impressed to learn that we represented over 36,000 ONE members in Maryland who care deeply about the issues that we discussed. He thanked us for letting our voices be heard and encouraged us and other ONE members to stay in touch. We look forward to hearing more about Senator Mikulski’s efforts to fight global poverty in the 111th Congress.

-Deidree Bennett, MD ONE Member